Category: Portrait of a Word

1. The speaker is an African American by the name of Ta- Nehishi Coates. In the first paragraph Coates himself writes, “ My father’s name is William Paul Coates. I, like my six brothers and sisters, have always addressed him as Dad” ,besides stating that he has siblings and a dad he is also married.
2. The occasion is to bring awareness to the situation in which players were called on to stop using “the worst and most derogatory word” after incidents regarding the Miami Dolphins, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia Eagles leading up to a funeral of the word in Detroit .  As Coates explains the meaning of a word deprives from the context and the main problem is that black people are exempted from a basic rule of communication.
3. The audience Coates is trying to reach out to African Americans because he mentions the word “we”.
4. The purpose is to emphasize that whether inappropriate words are said it’s the context and relationship it comes from that gives the word meaning like how two of his Jewish friends joked that I’d “make a good Jew”, gay men laughing as they referred to one another “faggots’ and how his wife and her friends referred to each other as “bitch”. But basically to point out that It would have been a different story if the words were being used in a different context being offensive.
5. The tone is serious while Coates expresses that they are being excluded from a basic rule of communication for example he states, that n*gger ” is different because it is attached to one of the most vibrant cultures in the Western world. And yet the culture is inextricably linked to the violence that birthed us”.
6. I agree that we depend on context in order to deprive the meaning of a word, it is different when your friend addresses you as “bitch” than when a stranger who’s frustrated addresses you like that. Also when he states that he has never called his father Billy, even if strangers or friends addressed his father as Billy he shouldn’t address his father like that because there are words sometimes said simply as a sign of respect.

The speaker is Ta-Nehisi Coates, he wants everyone to know that words take on a meaning within a context. For example, right names depend on right relationships, a fact so basic to human speech that without it, human language might well collapse. Coates brings up the subject that we should get rid of the worst and derogatory words spoken in our country. Coates brings this subject up now because it’s happening in everyday life even in sports where they use the word “ nigger” and think it’s okay. Coates is trying to reach people all around the world because he brings up different races and sexualities. The purpose of this piece is to inform us of the ways words can affect our language and minds. He’s trying to change hateful words that affect our culture, nationhood, and community. The tone of this essay is informative. He shares his experiences,“Two of my Jewish acquaintances once joked that I’d make a good Jew-yeah because I certainly am good with money”. I like Coates essay that everyone should have equal standard for their language and we should find a way to get rid of all the hateful words to make the  world a better place.

1. The speaker is Ta-Nehisi Coates and we know he love his family. We know he love his family because he talking about how he like his brother and sisters.
2. The occasion is the use of the word nigger. The urgent demand is to ban the use of the word nigger and we should let it “die the death it deserves.”
3. The audience is the people around the world. The clues that led me to believe this is that the the commissioners of the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball was bought up to live television to talk about it and people worldwide was watching.
4. The purpose of this piece is to convince people to stop using the n word. Coates is trying to accomplish the stoppage of violent terms that we use on one another.
5. The tone of this piece is frustration. I can tell the feelings of the writer by looking at the certain word choice he uses for example when Coates stated ““Nigger” is the border, the signpost that reminds us that the old crimes don’t disappear. It tells white people that, for all their guns and all their gold, there will always be places they can never go”.
6. I no other thoughts about this essay.

Speaker: A married African American male named Ta-Nehisi Coates, who understands his place in regards to respect for his varying relationships with friends and family. This can be seen with his relationship with his father, being that he’s never called him anything other than “Dad” despite others addressing him differently. It can also be noted that Coates has 6 siblings, and friends of different demographics and races.

Occasion: Multiple cases of people of different demographics using the “n” word that have brought up debates upon the issue. The occasion here being him stating his stance and opinions on the issue. This being urgent due to it having been in discussion for such a long time, and the topics background coming from an unforgettable period in history that has been talked about everywhere for centuries.

Audience: The article of course would be intended for reader’s who identify as African American & those who identify as caucasian. We are led to believe this being that he goes so far as to mention the races of the people in his examples. Those races being African American and Caucasian.

Purpose: To inform readers on the reasons why his stance, being that African Americans should be the only people who should be allowed to call eachother the “n” word, should be taken into account. One of them being that it’s much like how women sometimes will call eachother “bitch”, yet that if a male were to partake in this, depending on the relationship between the parties, it would be received with much disdain and scorn.

Tone:  The piece has very very light tones of underlying humor when comparisons are made, yet can also be seen to be taken very seriously anytime discussion about who gets to use the word, or the meaning behind the “n” word comes up. This can be seen through his use of diction and word choice. He uses strong words when talking about the use of the word.

 

Speaker: The speaker is Ta-Nehisi Coates who is African American himself.  This is made obvious since he uses the word “we” when talking about African Americans. He also states, “But ‘n*****’ endures in our most popular music and on the lips of more black people (like me) than would like to admit.” He has 6 siblings and is married.

Occasion: Due to the incidents that he mentioned in the article (the usage of the word in the Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia Eagles)and how each incident had a different reaction because in one of the incidents it came from someone who was black. It is important to bring this up and to talk about this subject because racism is very much still alive and although I’m sure we know of people who use this word amongst their crowd, context is everything.

Audience: It seems that he is directing this towards African Americans. He often uses the word “we” when mentioning African Americans which shows that he is talking to the African American community.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to stress how significant words are. As he saids, “words take on meaning from context and relationship.” He uses examples of those women who call each other bitches but if someone else was ever to, it would be a problem.

Tone: Coates tone is rather serious and passionate about the subject. He recognizes the negative impact of the word, “if you could choose one word to represent the centuries of bondage, the decades of terrorism, the long days of mass rape, the totality of white violence that birthed the black race in America, it would be n*****.” But he also recognizes that he too also uses the word and doesn’t use the word in an offensive way. That’s why he raises the idea about context.

Thoughts: This article is a great argument for those people who think “If black people calm themselves n*****, then why can’t I say it?” or “I have black friends so why can’t I say it?”.  I think that people sometimes forget the strong and negative background that this word has.

1) The speaker: an African American male named Ta-Nehisi Coates. He has a father named William Paul Coates, six siblings and is married. In the first paragraph, he states “MY father’s name is William Paul Coates, I, like my six brothers and sisters..” and on the ninth paragraph he said, “My wife and her friends…”

2) The occasion: Coates is bringing up this matter due to the numerous incidents that occurred at that time such as the Miami Dolphins Richie Incognito, Matt Barnes LA Clippers, Philadelphia Eagles Riley Cooper and when commissioners decided to ban their players from publicly using the word as well as N.A.A.C.P holding a “funeral” for the word

3) Audience: I think the targeted audience are African-Americans regardless if they use the word or not because he used the term “we” often such as “but we were born in violence, we did not die here.”

4) Purpose: I believe that Coates purpose was to emphasize how any word can be used as long as they are used within appropriate context and relationships. He gave examples of how his wife and her friends would call each other “bitch” when they were having a good time and how “gay men sometimes laughingly refer to one another as “faggots.”

5) Tone: The writer seems to sound frustrated and passionate at the same time as conveying his point of view. examples are, “But as in all cases of respectability politics, what we are really saying to black people is, “Be less human.” This is not a fight over civil rights; it’s an attempt to raise a double standard.” , “But though we were born in violence, we did not die there. That such a seemingly hateful word should return as a marker of nationhood and community confounds our very notions of power.” , “It tells white people that, for all their guns and all their gold, there will always be places they can never go.”

6) I agree that sometimes we joke around by using certain words within our close circle because it’s like saying the word “bitch” to your best friend and when a complete stranger comes up to you and call you by that word it gives off a totally different context than when you’re joking around with your friends. The way we perceive words really do depend on the relationships and context.

1. The speaker is an African-American man named Ta-Nehisi Coates who is the writer of the article “In Defense of a Loaded Word”. He believes that everyone should be able to refer to each other with any name as long as it is used within the appropriate relationship.
2. The occasion is whenever Coates sees people trying to ban the use of the n-word, even when casually used by African-American people, while everyone else gets to use whatever words they want. One instance is in 2007 when the N.A.A.C.P. organized a funeral in Detroit for the n-word.
3. The audience are the people who are trying to take the word away from African-Americans like it’s just as bad as if another race says it. “To prevent enabling oppression, we demand that black people be twice as good” (3). The “we” in the quote is the audience.
4. The purpose of this piece is to promote people’s freedom of speech by allowing everyone to use whatever words they please as long as it is relationship appropriate and isn’t used violently.
5. The tone of this piece is serious because the writer has witnessed events of verbal inequality and goes against those that want to take away the word that African-Americans use in a nonviolent manner.
6. I agree that we shouldn’t be able to censor words, but rather the intentions of the words as long as it is in a appropriate environment.

Speaker: Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African American male, he states “black people (like me).” He mentioned he has 6 siblings, so he is from a large family. He also stated that he is married.

 

Occasion: Incident with Miami Dolphins Richie Incognito (white) addressing his teammate, LA Clippers’ Matt Barnes (black) tweeting, and Philadelphia Eagles Riley Cooper (white). This led to sports commissioners’ being urged to ban the use of the word publicly. The media coverage brought the issue back into cultural focus.

 

Audience: African Americans are the primary focus. Specifically those who either use the word openly or may disagree with the usage. In the article, he uses the term “we” several times in the article.

 

Purpose: Stress the significance or weight of word(s) used within specific communities, that become unacceptable when used by other groups especially when used in derogatory terms. Urge people to not ban the use of the word out of fear other groups will feel entitled to use the words with malice.

 

Tone: Angry. “what we are really saying to black people is, “Be less human.” This is not a fight over civil rights; it’s an attempt to raise a double standard. It is no different from charging “ladies” with being ornamental and prim while allowing for the great wisdom of boys being boys.” “If you could choose one word to represent the centuries of bondage, the decades of terrorism, the long days of mass rape, the totality of white violence that birthed the black race in America” “the signpost that reminds us that the old crimes don’t disappear. It tells white people that, for all their guns and all their gold, there will always be places they can never go.”

 

Calling his father by a family nickname is not comparable to calling his wife and her friends bitches. Although it would most likely be awkward and strange for him to address his father in that manner, it is not inherently derogatory.

Hey, everyone! For Tuesday, please print out and read “In Defense of a Loaded Word” HERE

Then, please answer the SOAPSTONE questions (below) about “In Defense of a Loaded Word.” Please type up your answers and post on OpenLab. Here are the questions. 2-3 sentences each. :

1. Who is the SPEAKER? Not just what is their name, but what do we know about this person? How do we know it?
2. What is the OCCASION? It might be helpful to think of this in terms of “exigency.” What I’m asking here is:”What is the urgent need or demand for talking about this subject? Why is Coates bringing THIS subject up? And why is he bringing it up NOW?”
3. Who is the AUDIENCE? Who is Coates trying to reach? What are the clues that lead you to believe this?
4. What is the PURPOSE of this piece? What is Coates trying to accomplish?
5. What is the TONE of this piece? How can you tell the writer’s feelings by the words or phrases he chooses? BE SPECIFIC!
6. Other thoughts about this essay?

A note: Coates is talking about a sensitive word, one that he argues only African Americans should say. I agree with him, for the reasons he cites. For the purposes of this class, I ask that nobody other than black students say the word when we discuss it.